Japanese Whaling Fleet Setting its Sights on Humpback Whale
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 11.19.07
In a seeming attempt to both flout international regulations and provoke a vocal backlash, the Japanese have sent out a whaling fleet to the South Pacific whose aim it is to target one of the planet's most endangered, and beloved, cetaceans - the majestic humpback whale. With instructions to hunt down - sorry, collect for "scientific research" - up to 1,000 whales, the Japanese sailors are setting their sights on the humpback whale for the first time in over 40 years.
The fleet will consist of 4 whaling ships, including lead vessel, 8,000-ton Nisshin Maru (which was highlighted in a recent article in the New Yorker); a Greenpeace ship will be tailing it for the entire duration of its expedition.
Japan's fisheries officials have tried to defend their decision in the face of withering criticism by citing the supposed progress humpback whales have made and by making the (patently absurd) claim that killing 50 of them will have no effect. Humpback whales in our research area are rapidly recovering. Taking 50 humpbacks from a population of tens of thousands will have no significant impact whatsoever," said Hideki Moronuki, a spokesman.
As Michael McCarthy, The Independent's Environment Editor, noted in an impassioned column:
"But the excitement and pleasure of watching humpbacks is running smack into the Japanese desire to kill them, and the ensuing row is certain to echo around the globe ... Japan ignores the moratorium, and has killed whales for years under the guise of "scientific research", a risible fiction believed by no one outside Japan, as the meat from the kills is sold on the open market."
It is time for the International Whaling Commission and - to a larger extent - the world community to take immediate and decisive action to stop Japan's latest transgression. The fact that they have been allowed to continue hunting whales - in the supposed (and ridiculous) guise of "research" - is both insulting and morally reprehensible.
Via ::BBC News: Japanese whalers hunt humpbacks (news website), ::The Independent: Save the whale. Again (newspaper)
See also: ::Whale Conservation Beached (Again), ::Japanese Whaling Under Fire, ::Iceland Calls the Whale Thing Off
Defending whaling in Japan seems to be analogous to defending the need to buy unlimited handguns each month in the USA. Paranoia and a romantic attachment to the national history are the drivers for both.
I don't quite see your analogy.
I don't know of a single handgun death under the guise of "scientific research" even in the US...
It's almost like killing that 400 year old clam to open it up and see how old it was. I wonder if they did it up on the shell and all with some good sauce.
Gun ownership for personal defense, good.
(OK, everyone hates me now).
Killing whales, of any species, bad.
(maybe someone will like me again!).
Marine life is under considerable duress from dead zones to (old fashioned) pollution, to something I read about recently... higher concentrations of CO2 in the atmoshpere tend to make the air-exposed seawater more acidic which is very bad for plankton and shelled creatures.
vsk
what the hell is wrong with the japanese? they should be ashamed of themselves. first the dolphin thing, now this...
not that i'm saying america, or any other country, shouldn't be ashamed of their sins against nature.